Ebrahim told City Press he is “discouraging” South Africans from visiting the Middle Eastern state.

“Israel is an occupier country which is oppressing Palestine, so it is not proper for South Africans to associate with Israel,” Ebrahim said.

“We discourage people from going there except if it has to do with the peace process.”

Ebrahim denied this was a further step to a complete boycott of Israel – something the country’s pro-Palestinian lobby wants.

But his comments come after the recent release of a memorandum from the department of trade and industry which said that goods from the contested West Bank should be labelled as such.

This is because the West Bank is considered by many to be an occupied territory that rightfully belongs to Palestine.

This was met with outrage by the Jewish business community in South Africa. They say Israel would refuse to label such products and, as such, exports to South Africa would simply stop.

Just this week, a planned trip to Israel by KwaZulu-Natal mayors and officials was called off because of pressure from the pro-Palestine lobby.

Ebrahim told City Press South Africa should “scale down” its economic ties with Israel, but there was no need for a complete breakdown of relations.

South Africa maintains formal diplomatic ties with Israel, and has an ambassador in the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.

Correction
In a story headlined “Ebrahim cautions against Israel” on August 12, we described Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. Israel’s capital is Jerusalem, although South Africa and several other countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv because Jerusalem is not internationally recognised as the capital.

We regret any confusion and any inconvenience caused.

In a story headlined “Tough times for Cape museum” on August 12, we incorrectly stated that the District Six Museum had received a grant of R30?000 from the Western Cape provincial government.

The grant amount was actually R300?000.